If it?s better to give than receive, giving circles offer the best of both worlds ? and may be the shape of things to come in philanthropy.
“Giving circles are a relatively new trend in philanthropy, where people are pooling their dollars and leveraging those dollars to have a greater impact on issues the individuals care about,” said Buffy Beaudoin-Schwartz, communications director of the Association of Baltimore Area Grantmakers and founding member of the Women?s Giving Circle of Howard County.
A fund within the Columbia Foundation, WGCHC is one of 10 women?s giving circles ? sometimes dubbed “venture philanthropies” ? that have sprung up in the region. It will celebrate its fifth anniversary at the Ten Oaks Ballroom in Clarksville on Wednesday, WGCHC chairwoman Dorothy Harris said.
“They make philanthropy accessible to people who are at different income levels and stages of their careers and lives,” Beaudoin-Schwartz added, noting that the five-year-old, 500-donor WGCHC has gifted or pledged more than $500,000 and disbursed more than $70,000 to programs benefiting Howard County women and girls.
It?s this interactive, participatory, and multifaceted character ? in which average wage-earners experience the satisfactions of philanthropy while, at the same time, learning about and targeting a special cause, learning about grantmaking, and evaluating and adjusting their efforts ? that has sparked a boom of upward of 220 giving circles nationally.
To date, WGCHC?s largesse includes shared $5,000 scholarships for 32 women at Howard Community College, funding for 25 middle-school-age girls to attend an adolescent “healthy development” Journey Camp, direct grants of $500 each to eight community action nonprofits and the coordination of direct assistance to 38 needy women through its eNewsletter, “The Response Network.”
“The WGCHC grants us their scholarship money every year in the amount of $5,000 to help women and girls ? specifically to help women restart a career of learn skills to move up and break the cycle of welfare and poverty,” said Missy Mattey, executive director of Howard Community College?s educational foundation.
